Downtown Makeover News

Mark your calendars for a terrific HRPS program coming up on February 24th at 7:00 pm. The House That Tony Built. HRPS member, Barrie Lynn, will share the history of her bungalow plus show her remarkable restoration of the porch. This free program is open to the public, no reservations are needed. The program will be repeated on February 28th at 1:00 pm at the Downtown LIbrary.

The last large grouping of Victorian-era homes in Reno happens to lie in the path of the City of Reno and UNR's proposed Gateway District. Is it worth it to destroy a critical piece of downtown's past to build up?

1. YESCO lighting is working on a 'modified' version of the rooftop El Cortez sign that will read 'Siegel's El Cortez' and be green, according to renderings presented.

2. Retail street-level signage will be similar to the old historic retail signs. Retail tenants at the El Cortez weren't fond of the font proposed, and the HRC proposed several fonts that would work better, and Siegel Group is supposed to make some modifications.

3. Graffiti will be removed from Stewart Park rock wall, how is not yet to be determined.

As the El Cortez's renovations continue, they are replacing most of the electrical and now are replacing all the windows on the El Cortez. Some history buffs in town emailed me, worried that doing this could remove the El Cortez from the list of registered historic landmarks.

The El Cortez is not bound or required to preserve the building's history, but it would be a nice thing to do in the process of renovating it.

Apparently they did not have the required permit to do this, the city found out, and put a stop-work-order in. Submitting a permit to replace the windows would have triggered a Historic Resources Commission review, which is now going to occur thanks to some keen eyes on the building.